ITC tackles Fox News bias claims

Thursday 8 May 2003 02.39 EDT
First published on Thursday 8 May 2003 02.39 EDT

The Murdoch-owned Fox News Channel, whose determinedly pro-US stance during the Iraq conflict brought it critical notoriety but commercial success, is being investigated by television regulators in Britain for alleged bias.

The independent television commission is looking into nine complaints from viewers about the US channel, which is broadcast in Britain on Rupert Murdoch's Sky Digital satellite service.

If the US network is found to have breached the strict "due impartiality" rules laid down by the commission, it could be forced off Sky's network in the UK.

There is a precedent: after a number of warnings in 1999 the commission revoked the licence of Med TV, a channel aimed at Kurdish viewers, for failing to conform to the impartiality rules.

However, it is thought the ITC is worried about taking on Mr Murdoch. Commission sources played down the significance of its inquiries into Fox, saying the complaints were being treated in the same way as any other.

Under European Union rules, any channel broadcasting in Britain must be licensed by a European regulator.

Fox's licence is granted by the ITC because London is the broadcaster's European base.

The Arabic satellite channel al-Jazeera, often accused of bias from the opposite perspective, is licensed by the French television regulator because its base is in Paris.

Julian Petley, the chairman of the Campaign for Press and Broadcasting Freedom, called on the commission to act against Fox News.

"The commission has set a precedent by revoking Med TV's licence, so I don't see how it can't have Fox taken off [Sky] as well.

"I'm not in favour of censorship but Murdoch would like to do with British television news what he has done with newspapers, which is to force people to compete on his own terms.

"So if we allow into Britain the kind of journalism represented by Fox, that would bring about a form of censorship by narrowing the range of views and a coarsening of the level of debate."

Fox News may raise the hackles of liberal commentators but it is an undoubted commercial success, having overtaken CNN as the most popular news channel in the US.

In theory it must conform to the same impartiality rules as all news broadcasters licensed in Britain, including the BBC, ITV and Sky News.

Section 3 of the commission's programme code says it must ensure "due impartiality is preserved on the part of the person providing the service as respects matters of political or industrial controversy or relating to current public policy".

Impartiality is not required in every programme as long as a broadcaster can show impartiality "over time".

Complaints of alleged bias in an asylum discussion programme on Sky News, hosted by Sun columnist Richard Littlejohn, were rejected on this basis because another Sky programme redressed the balance.

Some senior media figures believe the rules for broadcasters other than the BBC and ITV should be relaxed.

Chris Shaw, the controller of news and current affairs at Channel Five, and Roger Mosey, the head of television news at the BBC, have suggested smaller broadcasters could have more freedom to air opinionated news programmes.